In the first trimester of her pregnancy constipation set in. She asked me sweetly and honestly one day, "Mom, I am so constipated. I push and push and push and a little nothing comes out. Is that what labor will feel like?"
[Chuckle] "No sweetie."
God love her, today she walked through the door in tears expressing she knows the baby is coming early and shared her symptoms. I walked over and hugged her, I am prepared for how my little girl will respond when it really happens. This momma knows her little girl.
Grateful she had her doctors appointment in less than an hour. I sat her down with a bottle of water and drove her to her appointment.She had to be checked to ensure her cervix isn't dilating. This isn't a pleasant experience and it didn't help the doctor was as big as King Kong. Sausage fingers!
The pain she is feeling was Braxton Hicks contractions. My sweet girl asks if this is what labor will feel like and I assure her it will be more intense. She states, "If this is what labor feels like I am going to need an epidural!"
After she was examined she said the examination really hurt, "Is that was labor will feel like?"
"No baby, not quite. That was one, maybe two fingers. I will ask you these questions after you have the baby" I said laughingly.
She said she'd like to get the epidural now before the pain kicks in and asked me if I remember how she used to take Advil when her cycle would start before cramps kicked in when she was a teenager, so she wouldn't feel cramps.
Doing some research to get a pain scale of what a Braxton Hicks (BH) contractions feel like, I am guessing a 1 to a 1-1/2 on a 1 to 10 pain scale I ran across some funny explanations I thought I'd share:
"Of course Braxton hicks are nothing like labour pains! Who would think they are? I WISH labour was like Braxton hicks lol! If only! Labour has been compared to breaking 20 bones in your body at once, which I think it's that bad at least!"
"My Braxton Hicks were not painful... not even an ounce... and I got a ton of them from the time I was 26 weeks with my daughter. In my opinion, you can't even compare them to actual contractions. When I had BH contractions, my uterus would just get insanely tight. The further along I got in the pregnancy, the stronger they were. They could be uncomfortable at times, because I found that they made it difficult to breathe while everything was so tight, but they were painless.
Labour contractions were a f*cking nightmare... at first it was like BH with some slight period-cramp feelings... but as I progressed, WOW!! On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being excruciating -- I'd say an 11. I couldn't look at anyone, I couldn't speak, I didn't want to be touched, and I couldn't even cry."
My role with this delivery will be to ensure my little girl is at the hospital in plenty of time for that epidural. My son-in-law can encourage her Lamaze breathing. Then, come on sweet baby!
